The city installed reflective posts and speed bumps at dangerous intersections to induce drivers to take left turns more slowly and carefully.
A traffic calming element installed at 18 Chicago intersections is successfully slowing left turns, reducing the risk of collisions with pedestrians, reports Monica Eng in Axios. The project is part of the city’s efforts to reach its Vision Zero goals and eliminate pedestrian deaths.
According to Eng, “Left turns were involved in 40% of crashes that led to serious injury or death from 2017 to 2021, according to city data.” David Smith, the city’s Complete Streets director, says data from a pilot program shows a 25 percent reduction in crashes at intersections where the change was made.
Some residents expressed frustration with the new infrastructure, inadvertently proving the device’s efficacy: “All they have done is further slow traffic,” one NextDoor commenter complained. Which is, after all, the point. “If you hit a speed bump or the rubber posts, you've driven in the wrong place.”
FULL STORY: Navigating new traffic turns
San Francisco Slow Streets Bucks Citywide Trend, Reducing Injuries by 61 Percent
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San Francisco Implements ‘Daylighting’ at Intersections
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Chicago Could Join Other Cities in Lowering Speed Limits
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Healing Through Parks: Altadena’s Path to Recovery After the Eaton Fire
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San Diego to Rescind Multi-Unit ADU Rule
The city wants to close a loophole that allowed developers to build apartment buildings on single-family lots as ADUs.
Electric Vehicles for All? Study Finds Disparities in Access and Incentives
A new UCLA study finds that while California has made progress in electric vehicle adoption, disadvantaged communities remain underserved in EV incentives, ownership, and charging access, requiring targeted policy changes to advance equity.
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City of Albany
UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
City of Piedmont, CA
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research